Karen Gaillard claims pole, shows speed in unlucky Porsche Sprint Challenge Suisse debut

Karen Gaillard showed front-running pace and claimed a sensational pole position on her Porsche Sprint Challenge Suisse debut in Portimão, but despite strong drives in both races she was unable to convert her pace into a strong race result due to a string of misfortunes.

Photo credits: Iron Dames

One week after her debut in Porsche Carrera Cup France, Iron Dame Karen Gaillard was back behind the wheel of the pink Porsche 992 GT3 Cup for the start of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Suisse season, which she is contesting as part of a multiple program.

Gaillard, who kicked off her 2025 season with an appearance in the final rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe—where she gained her first experience in the 992 Cup car after spending last season driving the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracán GT3 in the Michelin Le Mans Cup—will fly the banner of Iron Dames in both the Porsche Carrera Cup France, where she made history by becoming the first woman to win the Porsche Junior Shootout, and the Sprint Challenge Suisse. The latter offers valuable track time thanks to its weekend format, featuring multiple test and practice sessions.

Gaillard’s season debut in the Swiss series at Circuito do Algarve in Portimão showed great promise. The young racer consistently ran at the front of the field throughout the weekend and secured pole position—but was unfortunately unable to convert her pace into a strong race result due to a string of misfortunes.

On Thursday, Gaillard finished two of the test sessions within the top three. She remained at the sharp end throughout all four Friday practice sessions, never lower than third on the timesheets—clearly establishing herself as a podium and race win contender heading into Saturday’s qualifying and double-header races at the fast and undulating Portuguese circuit.

Gaillard began qualifying with a strong lap of 1:59.832, featuring the fastest time in sector 2. As the session progressed and times continued to drop, she pitted midway through from P11 to fit a new set of tyres for her final run. With fresh rubber, Karen delivered a stunning lap of 1:48.045, improving across all sectors and going purple in the first, securing pole position by over six tenths of a second ahead of her closest rival, Dylan Yip. It marked her first pole position as an Iron Dame.

Photo credits: Iron Dames

Starting from pole, the lights went green for Race 1 in Portimão: Gaillard and Yip were side by side into Turn 1, but it was Ethan Ischer who surprised everyone by taking the lead around the outside. Gaillard was boxed in and dropped to fifth but soon reclaimed fourth and began attacking Segre—needing to clear him quickly to avoid losing touch with the lead duo.

While setting the fastest time in sector 2 and pressing hard, Gaillard lost the rear of the car under braking at Turn 1 and made contact with Segre, whose car became stranded in the gravel, triggering a safety car. Despite suffering front-end damage, Gaillard rejoined the race.

Following the restart with 12 minutes to go, she cleared Marti and Caramuscia, setting a rapid 1:47.0 lap. She then passed Von Ballmoos, Barbati, and Inderbitzin to climb to P13, continuing her charge by overtaking Langer for P12 and pressuring Daniel Schmid.

A late-race collision between Caramuscia and Barbati brought out another safety car, and the race ended under yellow flags. Gaillard took the chequered flag in P12 but was promoted to P11 after post-race penalties.

Due to a three-place grid penalty from the Race 1 incident, Gaillard lined up seventh for Race 2, aiming to bounce back and challenge for a podium. At lights out, Ischer once again took the lead into Turn 1. Gaillard held her position through the tricky first corners and moved up into sixth, quickly putting pressure on Matteo Beretta.

On lap 2, a thrilling three-way battle for third unfolded; Karen had to back off but remained in pursuit of Burkard, Beretta, and Yip—who began to edge away. On lap 3, she made a clean pass on Gregor Burkard to move into fifth and then set her best lap of the race at 1:47.143 as she hunted down Beretta.

A contact between Ischer and Yip ahead allowed Beretta and Gaillard to close back in on the fight for the podium. Gaillard kept improving, clocking a 1:47.0 on lap 9 and narrowing the gap as Beretta received a track limits warning.

As the final minutes ticked down, Gaillard continued to pressure Beretta, now just behind race leaders Yip and Segre. Unfortunately, disaster struck on the final lap: a puncture sent her into the gravel, resulting in a DNF after a weekend where she had shown some of the best pace in the field.

Despite the unlucky results, Gaillard demonstrated front-running speed and strong racecraft. She will carry these learnings into the next rounds of both Porsche Carrera Cup France and Porsche Sprint Challenge Suisse, which returns for round two on 22 May at the Red Bull Ring.